Editorial: Do-it-yourself dryer vent cleaning

The week proved to be a trial and a learning experience. While doing laundry, I noticed my dryer was not drying my clothes as well as before. My first thought was that maybe my 40-year-old Maytag finally had enough. I then went on the internet to find out why this might be happening. What I learned was that the problem might be a clogged vent. I read up on how to clean it and also noticed it was recommended this be done at least once a year. It seems a lot of fires are caused by the buildup of lint in these vents. I'm ashamed to admit I didn't know this and immediately set out to remedy this situation. I went to my favorite hardware store to get whatever supplies were needed for the job, Auburn's Ace Hardware on Nevada Street. One of their salesmen came up to me and asked if he could help. I explained my situation, and he said I could clean the vent using my vacuum and proceeded to tell me how. I needed to move the dryer from the wall, disconnect the power source, disconnect the vent, clean both the vent and its outlet, and then reconnect everything. "Simple," he said. "You can do this." I gulped a few times but set out with determination. The next day, I started the project and I must admit it wasn't that hard until I got to clearing out the air vent. My vacuum had sucked up twigs! At this point, I called my next-door neighbor Joan, who always comes to my rescue (I swear she can fix anything). After seeing the twigs, she proceeded to stick her arm through the hole and came out with a clump of twigs, leaves, insulation, etc. Seems some critter started a nest in the exhaust vent on the side of my home! I'm just glad there weren't any babies included. My next visit to Ace Hardware will be to thank the salesman for giving me the confidence to do this job and buy a piece of netting. Rosalie Wohlfromm can be reached at rwohlfromm@att.net.